Category Archives: Goals

Loved in the Unclaimed Land

This assignment to do a video essay was really fun! I enjoyed revisiting Black Mirror (as did a lot of student in the class).

The episode “Hated in the Nation” was freaky for sure. I did have to stop looking at some scenes for the sake of the intense builds, but I really loved how they did it. I think that Black Mirror does a great job creating a world that is distinctly not ours but could be.

Creating the video essay was tough at first because I wasn’t sure what scene to do. I liked the suggestion to do a scene that is, for lack of a better word, not important or something that doesn’t cover a big plot point. Because the point of this assignment was to focus on the film of it all not the plot. I also had a hard time getting audio due to Netflix’s strict privacy rules, so I wasn’t able to get audio for this assignment which really bummed me out.

To make this I filmed the scene I wanted on my laptop and put it into iMovie. I then recorded my script in Voice Memo all in one recording and spliced it in iMovie. I also went to YouTube and found a Black Mirror starting title and included that in the beginning and end of my video.

Overall, I had fun with this process. I don’t think I’d make video essays on my own time, but I do enjoy watching them so it was fun to be able to do one myself.

Radio Show Ideas

I had a tough time coming up with ideas for a radio show. I feel like I dont know my character well enough yet and I wasn’t sure how to include her into the project but after reading some other ideas I have a couple of fun thoughts

I really like the idea of a “true crime” podcast but with the “clue” tropes and comedy. Thank you Liv it up with Liv for suggesting this!

I also enjoy this podcast called Scared to Death and its two people just telling each other scary stories they see on reddit and other peoples paranormal experiences and try to scare each other. This, I think, would be really cool to do as well.

I think that having a thriller aspect to the radio show will be interesting and I think that the true crime or the scary stories would allow for more exploration in the tech noir theme.

Another day at the office…

For the Sound Effect Short story I had a hard time picking out what story i wanted to tell. So I browsed around on Freesound to see if inspiration struck. And it in fact did! I chose to do a story about two men in an office job, one of them is asleep and is snoring very loud, and the other is extremely annoyed by this (He does this everyday!)

I started with background effects of office noises from BBC Sound Effects, then I looked for a man sighing on Freesound(this was the first part of my inspiration the rest came later, and the rest of my sounds are from Freesound). Next I found another man snoring and I copied and pasted this sound effect three times in the full story. The next step of annoyance is the attempt to wake the person up but discreetly, so I used a man clearing his throat. Once again the man snores so the next step is to get up and wake him up! To do this I used a metal bed frame creak, to implicate the man getting out of his office chair, some footsteps walking over to the man snoring and a blaring alarm clock! Finally the man wakes up with a gasp and the other man laughs and walks away, mission accomplished.

My first Radio Bumper

Creating my first radio bumper was daunting at the beginning. Im still not sure how to use audacity and to completely honest I forgot that this was a tool I could use for this assignment. So I used iMovie and Voice Memo to create my radio bumper.

I knew I wanted to add a voice over of introducing the radio show and having a little bop with it. So I created the voice over in the voice memos and it only took two tries! Then I went to iMovie and created the background music. I started out with the “bright” theme music and I thought it would be cool to have a bit of a tease into the not-quite-right feeling you have with the tech noir theme of the course. So I split the theme music and cut it in random places added some points of silence like the sound is cutting out. I really wanted the music to go out with a distorted shut-down type of effect to the music but I wasn’t able to find the right tools for that so I went with a record scratch and a telephone disconnect sound effect.

Here is the final product!

Rebecca’s Radiant Realm 2025-02-04 18:59:44

Listening to the audio drama Moon Graffiti was something I really enjoyed. Im not sure how I have gone this far without realizing how much I love audio dramas and podcast productions.

In audio storytelling the connection of visual immersion is almost non-existent. I say almost because the use of background music, sounds of people doing things, and the voice acting its almost like I can see what is happening and I can see in my mind in the most clear picture of the scene that is being told.

Although design is purely visual I feel there is an aspect of balance similar to design that goes into audio storytelling. You don’t want the noise in the background to be overwhelming (unless that is the goal) and you want the right balance of emotion to sounds to make an effective mood for the story. In Moon Graffiti there is a scene at 12:03 where one of the men start to die and fall unconscious. The noises in the background got louder and more disoriented until the the other guy snapped him out of the (panic?) episode. This is something that not only do I hear a lot but it is used in movies and TV shows but the fact that I cannot see what is happening does not change how I feel when this situation occurs, and this is because of the sound design!

There are some noises in the backgrounds that you do consciously notice but still creative a scene that you still are picturing the situation and its almost like you are living with the characters. For example, in Season 1 Episode 2 of Limetown the reporter is walking with the person she is interviewing and there is sounds in the background of footsteps walking through grass. Though its a little detail, it added so much to the story and the experience I had listening to it.

Sound design in audio storytelling is so important and something so minuscule that listeners don’t realize its there. But if it wasn’t there, you’d miss it.

How do you read this?

Learning about design and what goes into it was a lot more than I expected. When I design things like wallpapers and posters I tend to do these things without thinking. I had the opportunity to check out the book by Chip Kidd and learned a lot from his book. I liked how everything was described by using the design or typeface he was writing about.

The part of the book that caught my eye is something that I have never seen before, reading from right to left! Chip points out the cover of this book “Things We Didn’t See Coming” by Steven Amsterdam.

I have never thought about this type of design and it fascinates me. I have no idea what this book is about but I wanna read it.

I learned that design is both straightforward and complex. Design can be exactly what it means or it can be the complete opposite and all of it translates super well depending on how well you designed it! I also learned how to balance designs better. How too much color can be hard to read, or using a certain font will translate differently than another font might. I really liked digging into learning about design and I now have a better eye out for these things as I go through the day!

Beamish Intentions

Reasoning Behind My Logic

I am in digital storytelling to help me grow knowledge in computer editing software and blog creating spaces. Knowing how digital media influences writers, readers, and everyone in between like animation and Artificial intelligence. The digital world is huge, and it is only going to get bigger with more technology coming out in the years to come. I hope to stay on top of the new items coming to the market and/or audience.

One thing I would love to pay attention while watching movies or shows is knowing what digital software, they used to make it look so realistic. Over the past years, different type of technology has been used to give off unique theme to movies; an example would be Avatar: The Way of Water vs. Spider-Man Homecoming. I know after this class I will not only watch the movies and enjoy it but, I will notice how much effect the creators put into their work.